From the prior art various parking locks for automatic transmissions are known. For example DE 197 44 238 A1 describes a parking lock with a pawl which can be pivoted from a neutral position to a locking position, in which a detent tooth on the pawl engages in a detent recess on a detent ring on the drive input shaft of a transmission. To pivot the pawl a movable cam element is provided, which, depending on its position, presses against the side of the pawl opposite the detent tooth. In addition a ramp is provided on the pawl, which has a constant ramp gradient in the actuation direction and over the full width of the ramp. In this context the actuation direction is understood to mean the direction in which the cam element moves in order to pivot the pawl to its locking position. In the actuation direction the ramp then merges into a support surface. The ramp serves to enable a uniform and simple movement sequence of the cam element and the pawl. A similar parking lock is also known from DE 199 33 618 A1.
From US 2001/0042669 A1 a similar parking lock is known, in which the ramp against which the cam element presses is formed by a sloping surface at the free end of the pivoting pawl. Furthermore, the pawl is actuated in relation to its pivot axis in the radial direction, so that pawl actuation can also be said to be radial.
The parking locks known from the prior art have the disadvantage that particularly high loads occur at the contact points between the actuating element in the form of a cam or suchlike and the ramp surface, whereby on the one hand the movements of the pawl and the actuating element are made more difficult and on the other hand the functionality of the said components is endangered.